Fan Service the Trash of Anime? – An Alpha Omega Rant

WARNING: The following rant contains sexual images and themes. If you are offended I suggest leaving the page.

Now how many clicked of you on this page because of the thumbnail I picked?

I am going on a touchy subject but I thought it was something that needed to be addressed and I had quite the time writing this rant.

Anime has been around for quite some time with it popularity exploding in the west with the anime boom in America. During all these years no one can deny that the content of anime has been changing. A particular a piece of content that has been seen in more recent years is the inclusion of fan service. Fan service in anime terms means to typically reduce the amount of clothing on usually a female character. In modern anime today due to the over exposure and boom in fan service, anime fans have been faced with many issues including the overall abundance of fan service, the demand for it and how it is degrading.

Fan service can be thought of as gravy. When added in the right amounts to a meal its fantastic. However the question that should be asked is what if the viewer just wants gravy? In the last decade anime has seen a tremendous increase in the inclusion of fan service.

The abundance of fan service is seen as an issue. For example take a look at the ecchi anime High School DxD. Its content is bizarre and the story means nothing but just as a method for the viewer to see the uncensored breasts that are present in the show.

However another example is the infamous High School of the Dead animated by the fantastic animators at Mad House Studios. The show incorporates fan service with zombie killing action. The fan service gets to a point where similar to High School DxD it’s insulting but different it was fun where it makes you wonder the physics the engine the anime using as breasts cannot do this.

BREASTS CAN’T DODGE BULLETS!!! I think.

The overall abundance for fan service filled or ecchi anime can be contributed to the fact that the majority of anime fans being within teenage years. Thus shows such as High School DxD would be watched tremendously by males of teenage shows.

It is no lie that most anime fans today are teenagers. This is the main reason why ecchi shows sell so well. It is a simple case of the business knowing their target audience so well. Knowing that they their audience are mainly male teenagers led them to produce sexualised shows that will sell.

The simple reason that these shows sell so well is the main reason that Hollywood movies sell so well. Sex sells. The rule applies generally to all sides of the business as anime based around erotic themes and images will no doubt capture the attention of someone and draw their interest in. I myself am guilty of being drawn in to such anime by its sexualised orientation making me curious. The main reason for the demand for ecchi anime simply comes to the fact that sex sells.

Now here’s Asuka from the recent Rebuild of Evangelion movies. There’s a ridiculous amount of fan service in this reboot compared to the original series.

In small amounts fan service can be a treat. I don’t mind it when it’s there to simply do its job: pleasing the fans. However fan service can get to a point where it’s insulting or degrading. When fan service is over the top and out right unneeded, it’s degrading. It portrays the women as nothing more than sex objects for men to look at it.

Despite the fact viewers do not actually fully see the breasts or the vagina it makes me wonder why viewers would watch such shows. In all honesty if we otakus wanted to watch something to jerk off to. It’s a simple matter of searching up porn or hentai.

Now was I the only one who noticed Nami’s size increase in her, uh… assets?

How degrading anime is these days is incomparable to how it was when fan service was first featured. Also it is nothing like American TV shows where fan service can be picked out clearly but there is a difference. The fan service featured in American TV shows are few and far apart within the series.

This leads into the next point to how degrading it is. I can go and sit down and watch the American TV show Suits with my friends who don’t watch anime. Now let’s say that they agree to watch the Code Geass series with me.

Now how am I supposed to explain the fan service scene in episode 3 with Kallen naked in the shower?This is scene takes place after 2 previous episodes of strategic planning and ground breaking action.

Now try explaining this to your friends after just watching an episode where Lelouch kicked Britannian arse along with killing his half-brother.

Fan service today has gotten to a point where it bothers me and I just find it degrading towards women how they are put up on display for male viewers to gape at. Also the actual ecchi anime will just use excuses to show off the females’ features. Fan service today is simply degrading towards women with just insulting it has become along with the way it has portrayed women.

I like to think of anime as a way for me to view a good story with well fleshed out and developed characters. I‘d to think that anime is most certainly not a place where people come to view sexual material. We have had the release of such great anime in the past year few years, Attack On Titan, Fate/Zero and Steins;Gate are all great examples. However it seems that the outrageous amounts of fan service depict us otakus as people who want to get off at the first sight of breasts or panties. I hope not however it’s downright insulting seeing what kind of anime is still being produced in this day and age which I hope to see significantly toned down.

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19 responses to “Fan Service the Trash of Anime? – An Alpha Omega Rant”

Nope… If you don’t like it then don’t watch it
It’s simple, right? And I’m pretty sure nobody forces you to watch stuff you don’t like.

By the way, why is it so hard to understand the fact that different people like/want different things?
I can accept that there are people who don’t like fanservice, but let others enjoy whatever they like.

For me… I’d rather have girls looking normal. I preferred Robin and Nami as they were at the start of One Piece… If its not broken, why try and fix it? Just to appeal to an audience of perverts. People who enjoyed One Piece for the story and plot are being forced to watch this exploitation of female characters. I feel it violates them. They lose out on their character because they’re being displayed as sex objects first and characters second in my opinion…

This whole, If you don’t like it don’t watch it argument is pretty immature considering I like everything else… just this one thing that annoys me. I would rather have certain anime that are completely fan service which I would avoid and certain which are completely fan service free which I can enjoy.

Yes I completely agree with you.If you enjoy fan service go right ahead its your thing. However I should have been more clear with my position on fan service. I don’t mind it, I can enjoy it at times but at times it gets too out of hands. Its not as simple as you believe, take a look at Anno’s Rebuild of Evangelion. It’s fast paced full of action mechs like the original. The difference? Outside of the action scenes we’re seeing a brim full of fan service.

Okay, here’s what I think about male fanservice. I guess if you want to watch Black Butler then you could see demon love and suggestive boy love. But when it comes to one of my favorite anime, One Piece then that’s a different story. The only fanservice they have for men is when they when they’re shirtless and we can see their abs. You don’t see men complaining about cause they are not being seen as sex objects. While you see how’s Nami and Robin’s breast just got bigger, now being seen as sex objects which is degrading women. Which most are sick of. Ever heard of the feminist movement? It’s reasons like this is why this movement is happening.

? ? ? wait a second *looks up what you’re talking about.* O_O January 26, 2014!
No wonder I was so confused.
XD Demon love is more of a manga thing.
One of the reasons the male – female fan-service was bright up was because anime made to titillate woman tend to be really bad (much worse than male fan service shows).

o-o Anime like Diabolik lovers, amnesia or La corda d’oro -blue sky- are some of the worst anime you will ever see.

You need a bit of context to the comment: In 2013 an anime called Free! had been made by a Kyoto Animation and male anime fans went in ballistic rage (Before that anime was made Kyo ani would stream out moe shows). The reason Free! Was made was because a load of female fans love the test animation the studios B team had created to show off their skills.
Male fans response:
“They would be bankrupt if they made females an anime.”
“No such thing as a female anime fan.”
“This anime objectifies men.”

I do think sebastian from black butler is appealing but he is not one of the men from Uta no Prince Sama. T_o one piece is a young teen show and not really good for comparison.
^_o A better example from a male fan-service show would be monster musume or Momo Kyun Sword.

^_^ Just remembered! I also get annoyed when female fans complain about male fan’s with “we don’t get aroused by such things.” rubbish! females just prefer to insert themselves into the fantasy more then just stare (It’s one of the reasons the girl in amnesia doesn’t have a name).

I enjoy fan service so I honestly don’t mind its inclusion providing that the show itself is also entertaining. Western audiences tend to be more prudish when it comes to sex. It’s hard to show sexual content on US television but violence is okay. Different societies have different morale standards.

If you enjoy fan service then thats awesome. I agree with how you believe with its inclusion as long as the show is entertaining. Take Code Geass one of my favourite animes of all time and it has fan service quite alot compared to others. My only problem regarding fan service is its over abudance when shows are produced for the pure sake for fan service. That’s insulting to me. I feel that if you include fan service it can be treat as I thoroughly enjoyed the fan service in Code Geass

i like your meaning but if u ask me it doesnt really bother me that anime girls have big breasts and stuff. and yes, its a way to get more sales and sell more. its the same with everything. for example you can put a video on youtube with a hentai thumbnail with a title that everyone will go to and the video has nothing to do with them both, same with headlines in newspapers. but if u ask me i dont really bother about all this fan service because i feel the most important thing about anime is story and the next important is the character design and if they make girls look cuter and stuff i dont mind also im not a teenager and stuff xD and i feel like im the only one that enjoyed high school of the dead and i dont get why everyone says its bad because of the big boobs and stuff because the story was good and everything like that. but i would agree it was a bit stupid at points for example when they all went to take a bath and we get to see them all naked and stuff during a freaking zombie apocalypse xD that is my meaning so i dont mean to offend anyone but that is my opinion xD sorry for the long comment btw 🙂 and nice post 😀

I admit i thoroughly enjoyed Highschool of the Dead because of its absurdity. It tries not to disguise what it was and I applaud it for that. And yes i agree with you that the fan srvice was down right stupid and got in the way of the show but the show was just so much fun. To enjoy HOTD i feel that you need to switch your mind off ans not think.

I would refute your assertion that High School DxD has a nothing story, as I quite enjoyed it. Though it certainly wasn’t deep, it was interesting enough to get me through 2 seasons and have me looking forward to the 3rd. The amount of fan service was unfortunate but allowed the show to set up comedy situations that most series just can’t.

I could do without fan service completely, to be honest. It just makes things uncomfortable when you try to watch anime with your partner or even friends that haven’t been exposed to it before. It gives anime itself a bad reputation in the West. Having said that, I don’t think fan service is going anywhere anytime soon given how pervasive it is already. I mean, Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse is a show about humanity fighting against terrifying extraterrestrials to avoid extinction, and it -still- features both beach and onsen episodes…it’s kind of ridiculous.

High School DxD what a weird experience I had with that anime. The fan service was stupid but did make me laugh at times with its absurdity such as the demon with the acid milk. It made me laugh due its stupidity. Yes the reason for dubs starting be a rarity is the fan service which is the reason has such a bad reputation in the West. it is indeed awkward trying to watch anime with friends let alone yourself.

Why do you act as though “fan service” is new? As far as I’m concerned there has always been and will always be fan service. It’s true that this last decade or so has seen a boom in shows dedicated the “sexy side” of fan service. But I can remember scenes of fan service in Zeta Gundam, and the costume choice for the female lead in the original Gundam TV series. Both examples of sex sells fan service nearly 30 years ago, plus how many late Eighties and Nineties shows pandered to the Otaku cultural epidemic? Anyway, to each his own right? Remember that fan service is not all bare-breasts and up-skirts, although that is typically the type found in most anime.For what it’s worth I watch different shows for different reasons, and yes that includes the fan service romps so loathed by the “Leet” section of the American fan base. So get over yourselves and let the individual pick his poison, because in the end we are all fans of the same thing, anime. We don’t have to like the all same “Genres”, or “styles” to be “right ” in our choices of what we watch. Can’t we all just get along?

I don’t mind fan-service that much except when it gets in the way like in the Zero no Tsukaima series which pretty much ended ruining a great story. They even changed excellent elements from the novel only to turn them into fan-services, it was quite ridiculous to say the least.

When anime makes sexual jokes over 90% of the time it’s about girls breasts. It would be less annoying if it made sexual jokes on other sensative parts of either gender. Fan service in friendly comedic moments? Okay. When characters don’t shut up about the size of their breasts and press it against each other? not cool. (unless its ecchi or porn)

the fanservice in highschool of the dead felt like it didn’t belong there. I mean the whole thing was concentrating on the zombie apocolypse dark stuff, and the ecchi just kept popping up for litterally no reason! a girl just moves slightly and their chest jiggled as though they were running!